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Air France tells pilots to shape up, stop blaming equipment

The recovered tailfin of the Air France flight 447 is unloaded from Brazilian Navy frigate Constituicao at Recife’s harbor June 14, 2009 (EVARISTO SA/AFP/Getty Images).

Air France has struck back at pilots blaming faulty airspeed probes for the June Airbus A330 crash that killed all 228 people on board.

“Enough Scandals and False Debates about Flight Security!” the airline said in a memo to pilots, according to an Associated Press report. The memo reportedly dismisses pilots calls for new safety procedures, saying existing ones are sufficient.

Earlier this month, an Air France pilots’ union issued a report blaming Thales pitot probes that are suspected of icing over on Flight 447, causing faulty airspeed readings that threw out flight controls. European and U.S. regulators mandated replacement of the probes since the crash.

The official French investigation deemed in an interim report that the speed monitors a factor but not the leading cause of the crash.

In the new memo, Air France warned its pilots to be more vigilant about safety procedures, outlining safety lapses by pilots, the AP reported. But it also revealed that it stopped a training program on how to manage Pitot malfunctions after Airbus told the airline that the simulation “does not loyally reproduce the chain of consequences in real situations,” the AP reported.

A pilot union spokesman reiterated in the AP story a contention that pilots were being scapegoated for the crash.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..